Many lady cyclists told Tracey that some of the bike shoes on the market weren’t very aesthetically pleasing and so they’ve been taking advantage of Tracey Neuls‘ rubber sole styles to ride around town.

Now Tracey Neuls has produced two designs that are the perfect shape for cycling and have a grey cat’s eye reflective ribbon on the back to keep you safe. The styles have an integrated rubber sole – there’s 1.5 cm of really hard rubber at the base so it’ll take a LOT of wear. The pedal sits right into the heel shape and doesn’t slip.

The Tokyo Bike collaboration shoes include the GEEKS (pictured above on the bike) in brown or black leather with reflective cat’s eye ribbon, at £165 and FERN (no image yet) a heeled lace up boot in grey leather with black rubber sole and cat’s eye ribbon at £250.

Apparently Florence likes to ride her bicycle around London to get the creative juices flowing. “”It’s good for me, especially when I’m away on the road. I’m always on planes, in cars, in vans so it’s so nice having that. It also sets free your imagination.” Read more here.

So it’s not the most flattering photo of the Mayor of London. But what we wanted to show was that even a powerful politican who’s often in the public eye thinks it’s a good idea to ride a bike to work (or anywhere). He also gave his name to the popular Barclays Cycle Hire scheme in London – better known as the Boris Bikes.

She writes ‘The best route through the city, to go safely and away from the all traffic, is to go by the Regents Canal. It starts on the Thames, near Saint Catherine’s Dock, meanders through the city and ends in Manchester! Along the canal, do not miss the London 2012 Olympic city. Go a little further along Victoria Park and if you continue north you will pass by Camden Lock, Regent’s Park and you can even get to Notting Hill.’ (PS This is one of our favourite London cycle routes as well.)

Don’t get wet

Investing in a good lightweight waterproof jacket with breathable fibres is always worthwhile. Have a look at Pedaler’s Unisex Microsuede Anorak.

Keep your grip

There are a wide range of gloves available, featuring breathable waterproof materials, padded palms, and non-slip brake and gear change fingers, so there’s no excuse for chapped, dry hands! We love Freehands Gloves which keep your hands warm while still enabling you to use your phone, camera or switch gears.

Cover your head

The claim that you lose up to 75 per cent of your body heat through your head alone may be a myth, but if you wear a thin ski hat or balaclava under your helmet you’ll be sure to keep your head and ears warm. Why not pop an Otto and Spike beanie under your helmet?

The organisation has been running since the summer of 2007 when they first built a bicycle powered cinema at the Big Chill Festival. MR uses bicycle power generators as educational tools in schools, colleges and communities to help people understand their energy use, its links with power production and climate change.

One of their projects is Cycle-In Cinema. Magnificent Revolution build bike-powered cinemas, from the full Magnificent Cycle Cinema system which uses up to 8 bicycles / 16 legs to power 600W of audio visual equipment for public film screenings or projections to the Pop-up LED Cinema which just 2 bicycles. In 2011, they want to put together 3 free regular Cycle-In Cinemas all over London. A new 10-bike generator will be built as a resource to be lent out to small organisations, schools and charities.

Regular readers of the blog will know that I am a huge fan of cycling in London and it’s the place where I really found my feet (or wheels) as a commuter cyclist. I have many, many fond memories of taking my bike to visit grandiose buildings, tootling along the Thames and exploring the hidden nooks of the city.

When I first decided to move to London from Melbourne, I was unsure about whether I’d feel comfortable cycling around such a large, sprawling city. I’d never even heard of people cycling in London, everyone just got around on the Tube.

Shipping over my bike was the best decision I made for my time overseas. I gained immense confidence as a commuter cyclist, I got to places quicker without the stress of public transport and I discovered new places which I otherwise would never have encountered. Owning a bike really opened up the city for me and gave me headspace not to become engulfed in the strains of living in a fast-paced city of 13 million people.

Transport for London is doing great work with encouraging cycling in London, and I think these videos of everyday people and celebs cycling the city highlight the joys and benefits of city cycling everywhere, not just in London.

I can exactly pinpoint the moment when I transformed from a casual city pootler to a full-blown urban cyclist.

I shipped my bike to London and used it as my main mode of transport for two years, day-in, day-out. Through sweaty summer tube strikes and frosty winter mornings. Using it to get to work, to gigs in Camden, art galleries at Southbank, the opera at Covent Garden and Portobello market. NEVER dressed in lycra (in fact, I rode to my birthday dinner in a tutu skirt one year).

My friends, family and colleagues were initially aghast. ‘Cycling in London? With all those mouthy black cabs and huge double-decker buses rearing up behind you? Don’t you feel unsafe?’

Well, the brief periods where I did feel a bit unsteady (my first encounter with Shepherds Bush roundabout and the Hammersmith Flyover) were completely outweighed by the joy and freedom I felt cycling around the city at my own pace. My favourite route was to travel at twilight from my home in Paddington, crossing Hyde Park, skimming past Buckingham Palace, waving to Big Ben and crossing the Thames bathed in the colours of the London Eye. Every time I rode on Westminster Bridge I would slow down, drink in the view and breathe a huge sigh of gratitude for having the opportunity to live in this vibrant city.

In fact, I still get a little homesick remembering it. And if my little anecdote doesn’t convince you why cycling is the best way to get around London, maybe this video from ibikelondon will.

Dashing Tweeds weave beautiful wool tweed fabric which is stocked at tailors Anderson & Sheppard, Graham Browne and Connock & Lockie.What’s particularly special about their tweed, which is called Lumatwill, is that it is threaded with 3M luminescent thread and coated with Teflon, which means that it’s reflective at night and waterproof. Check out some of the photos here.

While Australia’s relatively mild winters probably don’t justify a full three piece tweed wool suit, we do get cold enough, especially here in Melbourne, to need some sort of winter-wear on our bikes. That’s why CycleStyle is bringing you the Dashing Tweeds legwarmers, which are threaded through with the same 3M luminescent thread as the tweed.

Not only are these legwarmers tres chic and useful for keeping pants away from your bike chain, they are a good safety feature because anything that is strapped to your ankle, reflective and constantly moving will more readily attract the attention of motorists and pedestrians. We’ve tried them in front of car headlights, and wow they are super-bright!

The Dashing Tweeds legwarmers are selling exclusively in Australia at CycleStyle. Stock is limited as the company only does small product runs, so snap them up quick!